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Anyone here who donates part of their earnings to charities?

Xeon

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As in, for e.g. if you're selling wheelchairs and you donate a % of your earnings to elderly homes / special needs centers.

Is there generally a recommended sum for this sort of things? I'm thinking of donating 5% of my monthly earnings to a charity that's related to my industry. I'm thinking of doing 10% but that would eat away too much of the profits for the inventory.

Also, if I donate, do I need to state the donated percentage on my website and show some kind of proof?
 
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WJS

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As in, for e.g. if you're selling wheelchairs and you donate a % of your earnings to elderly homes / special needs centers.

Is there generally a recommended sum for this sort of things? I'm thinking of donating 5% of my monthly earnings to a charity that's related to my industry. I'm thinking of doing 10% but that would eat away too much of the profits for the inventory.

Also, if I donate, do I need to state the donated percentage on my website and show some kind of proof?

It's always good to give back to society. You can start with a small amount and increase it as your income grows.

As for stating the donation in your website, I guess you can mention that part of the proceeds will go to X charity (why do you think so many companies do CSR and make it a point to involve the media while they're at it? Aside from getting free publicity and creating an image that "they care", companies that do CSR are also entitled for some tax deductions)

Do it because you have a heart and want to help people. It will somehow come back to you in a good way. But even if your reasons are for commercial purposes, I'd still encourage you to do it, at least some people in need will receive the help that they much needed.
 
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AllenCrawley

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Our newest company belongs to 1% for the Planet. We pledge 1% of our annual revenues to charitable organization(s) that are a part of 1% for the Planet. They do an annual audit to verify the donation.
 

Xeon

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As for stating the donation in your website, I guess you can mention that part of the proceeds will go to X charity (why do you think so many companies do CSR and make it a point to involve the media while they're at it? Aside from getting free publicity and creating an image that "they care", companies that do CSR are also entitled for some tax deductions)

Do it because you have a heart and want to help people. It will somehow come back to you in a good way. But even if your reasons are for commercial purposes, I'd still encourage you to do it, at least some people in need will receive the help that they much needed.

Tbh, in the past, I always feel those CSR crap are really hypocrites but now, I realize that even though the intentions might not be fully pure, but as long as people benefits, who cares right? In the end, it's all for the greater good.
Donating to charities actually gives a lot of social proof which is important for new unknown businesses (too bad the ROI can't be calculated lol).

Our newest company belongs to 1% for the Planet. We pledge 1% of our annual revenues to charitable organization(s) that are a part of 1% for the Planet. They do an annual audit to verify the donation.

Thanks Allen. Do you also "advertise" that on your site, either on the About page (like some of my competitors do), or on the home page? You know, like a small graphic / badge / seal sticker saying "x% of our profits go to....".
 

WJS

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Tbh, in the past, I always feel those CSR crap are really hypocrites but now, I realize that even though the intentions might not be fully pure, but as long as people benefits, who cares right? In the end, it's all for the greater good.
Donating to charities actually gives a lot of social proof which is important for new unknown businesses (too bad the ROI can't be calculated lol).

Yes I agree on that. For social proof, you can take photos, do yearly reports and send to your customers. I donate to WWF and they do that for accountability. As for ROI, I guess you can monitor your sales figure after you post some updates on your CSR activities. Again, don't think too much about profit when you're doing charity. The tax deduction alone is already worth it.
 
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AllenCrawley

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Thanks Allen. Do you also "advertise" that on your site, either on the About page (like some of my competitors do), or on the home page? You know, like a small graphic / badge / seal sticker saying "x% of our profits go to....".
Actually we are still waiting on final approval as we just recently applied but once that is complete we can use the 1% badge and will have a section on our website that details our conservation efforts.
 

Kid

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Some time ago GoDaddy.com had a "Round Up for Charity". If you ware buying something for like $4.50, you could round up to $5 and proceed the $0.50 to chosen charity.

I was rounding up, but after some time they discontinued that so i stopped too. :(
 

Supercar

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Stating a lower single digit percentages is pretty common, if a company wants to donate to a charity or a cause.

I am thinking, you could state a higher percentage if you make it a percentage of profits, not revenue.

On the other hand, stating as a percentage of sales makes it more tangible for the buyers. They know how much exactly of what they paid went to charity.
 
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Lucky Chevy

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As in, for e.g. if you're selling wheelchairs and you donate a % of your earnings to elderly homes / special needs centers.

Is there generally a recommended sum for this sort of things? I'm thinking of donating 5% of my monthly earnings to a charity that's related to my industry. I'm thinking of doing 10% but that would eat away too much of the profits for the inventory.

Also, if I donate, do I need to state the donated percentage on my website and show some kind of proof?

I grew up poor and was the beneficiary of charity. Giving back closes the circle and makes me feel like the money invested in me was worthwhile. It's good for the soul, especially when you can see the difference you've made in the lives of others.

I'm also a pushover for buying Girl Scout cookies, and anything sold by high school kids. (When I was in high school it seemed like there was a never ending bunch of crap I was expected to sell to subsidize activities.)

I also give freely of my time and generally find what I get in return is priceless.
 

biophase

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My company does. It donates about 30% of its gross sales in product. Our Fedex bill for sending out donations last year alone was about $37,000.

If i were you I’d donate a percentage of gross income vs profit because that number can be manipulated.
 

Xeon

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Yes I agree on that. For social proof, you can take photos, do yearly reports and send to your customers.

Here's the funny thing: let's say I donate 5% of my gross income monthly to the charity.
Then, if I were to post the accountability (e.g: the figures and numerical reports), won't everyone know exactly how much I'm earning, since it can be back-tracked? I'm not going to disclose that lol

I also wonder what happens if I donate, and then customers email me asking to see the figures, what am I gonna say lol

e.g:

Anna: Hey, could you share roughly how much you donated to X charity this month? The website mentions 5% of total gross monthly income right?

Me: It's US$120.

So, from here, the customer will know that my total gross income for that month is US$2400 (($120/5%) * 100%)).
 
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WJS

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Here's the funny thing: let's say I donate 5% of my gross income monthly to the charity.
Then, if I were to post the accountability (e.g: the figures and numerical reports), won't everyone know exactly how much I'm earning, since it can be back-tracked? I'm not going to disclose that lol

I also wonder what happens if I donate, and then customers email me asking to see the figures, what am I gonna say lol

e.g:

Anna: Hey, could you share roughly how much you donated to X charity this month? The website mentions 5% of total gross monthly income right?

Me: It's US$120.

So, from here, the customer will know that my total gross income for that month is US$2400 (($120/5%) * 100%)).

Wow, your business must be doing so well that you worry about people knowing your income!

Dude, LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS, MAKE A TONNE OF MONEY, THEN WORRY ABOUT THIS MATTER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! :bored:

But seriously, if you are so concerned about this, just make a broad statement: For every product that you buy, we will donate X dollars to Y charity. And if certain products don't have that kind of margin, just put the labels on certain products. That way, people will only know how many units you sold.

In all fairness, it's really not that difficult to find out how much a company makes per annum. A simple credit check will reveal that information. :clench:
 

biophase

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Here's the funny thing: let's say I donate 5% of my gross income monthly to the charity.
Then, if I were to post the accountability (e.g: the figures and numerical reports), won't everyone know exactly how much I'm earning, since it can be back-tracked? I'm not going to disclose that lol

I also wonder what happens if I donate, and then customers email me asking to see the figures, what am I gonna say lol

e.g:

Anna: Hey, could you share roughly how much you donated to X charity this month? The website mentions 5% of total gross monthly income right?

Me: It's US$120.

So, from here, the customer will know that my total gross income for that month is US$2400 (($120/5%) * 100%)).

I actually do do that. I have the number posted on my website and people can easily figure out how much in sales my company has done. But who cares. So they know you company has done $100,000 or $200,000?
 

mikey3times

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When I started my website, I made a pact with myself to donate 25% of my year-end distribution to charity spread among 5 charities important to me, but irrelevant to the business. At first it was very small sums, but it has grown to the point that I get personal hand written thank you notes from some of the charities, which is pretty cool.

This is kept private and isn’t shown on the website. I’ve told a handful of people, but mostly do it because it feels awesome to make those donations every December. I stand a little taller and smile a lot more for the few days after the donations go through. To be fair, telling people that I do this wouldn’t improve my sales at all due to the type of business I have.

My business is definitely a side-gig and I can’t live off what I make, but it does give me the ability to make decently sized charitable donations that I likely wouldn’t do otherwise.
 
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